Day 10 of 30 in 30 –I am not a snake!

This is not a snake! it’s a locust pod that I picked up on my dog walk. I’ve been watching this tree for a long time, seeing the greenish white pods in the summer and hot they curled among the foliage…really cool! and then as the pods turned color in stages over the length of the pod…and now when they’re on the ground.

I’m so happy with how quickly this came together, and how it turned out. Day 10! Whew!!!

Locust pod sketch in pencil with notes on shadows and lighter areas, and watercolor wash to try out colors. Click on image to view larger.

Here’s the sketchbook version in pencil, with my notes to remind myself on light and dark, and what kind of shadow. I seem to have rearranged the pods a bit before painting it, so the shadow shape is different.

on the ground, dried, in the tree in early summer, and later in the summer see how the pod changes bit by bit into dried?

I added this photo collage later so you could see what these locust pods look like on the tree and dried on the ground.

study for a painting of a red tailed hawk on a windmill in the west texas desert.

I love working with these colors. The lighter area is quin gold, then quin burnt orange, quin burnt scarlet, and indanthrone. I used these colors to paint Hawk on a Wire earlier this week.

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